In 1945, while living with their grandfather in Cincinnati, Ohio, Clooney and her younger sister, Betty, began singing duets on the radio. The Clooney Sisters, as they became known, soon caught the attention of the saxophonist and bandleader Tony Pastor, and the sisters toured with his band for several years. In 1949 Rosemary, who had determined to make a living doing what she loved most, moved to New York to embark on a solo career. There she signed with Columbia Records and quickly made a name for herself with her chart-topping rendition of “Come On-a My House” (1951). A string of novelty hits followed, including “This Ole House” and “Mambo Italiano” as well as love songs, such as “Tenderly,” “Half as Much,” and “Hey There.” Her success landed her on the cover of the major American weekly Time magazine (1953). That same year she married actor José Ferrer, but the marriage was stormy; the couple divorced, remarried, and divorced again in 1967. Although she was not a trained actor, Clooney’s popularity during this period was such that she accepted roles in several films, most notably White Christmas (1954; with Bing Crosby), and she served as the host of a television variety show The Rosemary Clooney Show (1956–57). In 1956, with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, she recorded the album Blue Rose; though not a popular success when it was released, it was later deemed a jazz classic.

With the rise of rock music in the late 1950s and the subsequent decline of interest in jazz singers, Clooney’s career seemed to be more or less over. In 1968 she was present at the assassination of her friend Robert F. Kennedy, and that experience, coupled with an addiction to prescription drugs, precipitated a mental breakdown. Her return to performing was gradual but, by her own account, essential. She confessed to one interviewer, “If I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t live.…That’s what I do: I sing.” Beginning in 1977 she released a string of critically praised albums on the Concord Jazz label. By this time her voice had changed considerably, though it was quite recognizable, and she could convey with heartbreaking immediacy her own experience of love and loss. Although Clooney experimented with a number of genres, her later career largely centred on jazz. In 2002 she was honoured with her first Grammy Award, for lifetime achievement. Clooney cowrote two autobiographies, This for Remembrance (1977; with Raymond Strait) and Girl Singer (1999; with Joan Barthel). Her nephew George Clooney and son Miguel Ferrer are actors.

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